Summer Shade
by abcdelith
Summary: Uozumi has been murdered. Was it really Rukawa, who kept upholding the "death from natural causes" theory? Was it Sendoh, who poured out the coffee? Mitsui and Miyagi decide to poke their noses around...
1. Poisoned!

**Summer Shade**   
Chapter One: Poisoned! 

Mitsui Hisashi strolled down the path which led to Quinn's hostel. The weather was balmy and nice; the summer breeze just right for a little solitary walk. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and whistled a chirpy tune, his footsteps in rhythmic correspondence. Occasionally he halted his journey and attempted to do a little jig. The soles of his leather shoes made happy little 'tap' sounds on the cobblestone path.

Presently, Quinn's hostel came into view. It wasn't anything like he expected. The whiteness of its walls had faded into a light shade of yellow, yet its windows were painted a vibrant blue. "The lousiest places have the grandest names," he mused.

A figure came out to meet him.

"Good morning, you must be Mr. Mitsui Hisashi. I am Mrs. Mizuno, and I run this hostel." 

Mrs. Mizuno was a robust, respectable-looking woman of about 50 odd. Her hair was flecked with gray and pulled back in a tight bun. The pair of eyes, gazing out from a slightly wrinkled face, was laid on Mitsui. They gave the impression of a stern austerity. Mitsui suddenly felt like a mischievous schoolboy faced with a marauder's worst nightmare – a discipline mistress.

"Good morning, Mrs. Mizuno." Mitsui said cautiously. "I am Mitsui."

"Well, come right in!"

Mrs. Mizuno ushered her guest into her hostel.

"You just wait a moment, I'll go and get your keys." She told him, and disappeared into one of the rooms.

Mitsui's eyes darted around Quinn's hostel. It was an extremely neat and well-kept place, no doubt owing to the efficacy of Mrs. Mizuno. On this ground floor were three old-fashioned sofas – the wooden type with cushions lain on it – that formed an incomplete square. The side of the square without a sofa was being occupied by a television set. There was only one room on this floor; it being the one Mrs. Mizuno had disappeared into. A staircase led up to the second floor, and behind it was a dining area. The kitchen was beside the dining area.

"Micchy!"

A familiar voice interrupted his keen observation of the place. A cocky-looking redhead dressed in a dirty white singlet and baggy Bermudas with large pockets appeared.

"Where are the rest, Sakuragi?" Mitsui asked.

'The rest' that Mitsui had referred to were the 8 (excluding himself and Sakuragi) other short listed basketball players from Kanagawa. This was supposed to be a training camp to prepare them for the first ever inter-district tournament. The selected players: Maki, Jin and Kiyota of Kainan; Sendoh, Uozumi and Fukuda of Ryonan; Miyagi, Mitsui, Sakuragi and Rukawa of Shohoku. 

But that wasn't the original list. The original list included Takenori Akagi of Shohoku instead of Uozumi, and Fujima Kenji of Shoyo instead of Miyagi. Both had declined to take part because of overseas study commitments.

Sakuragi shrugged. "All upstairs in their rooms unpacking, I suppose. Why've you come so late?"

"I woke up late and missed the train," Mitsui lied, the real reason being his near failure to persuade his parents to let him come. They had insisted that Mitsui was trying to run away from home. Mitsui thought wryly: "Yeah, run away from home my arse. Would I have informed them if I were really running away? I'm not as thick as that."

Sakuragi bore no signs of suspicion, and instead proceeded to tease Mitsui on this blatant lie.

"Looks like we should get you an alarm clock for your birthday, eh Micchy? An alarm clock that will scream 'Micchy! Micchy!' over and over again." Sakuragi said, and laughed heartily at his own joke.

Mrs. Mizuno re-appeared, preventing an irritated Mitsui from giving an equally irritated retort.

"Your key," She said, and pressed a key into his hands. "Come, I'll lead you up to your room."

Mitsui followed the old lady up the stairs to the second and highest floor. A bookcase table lay opposite the mouth of the stairs in a little corner that jutted out from a long hallway. The hallway yielded 14 rooms, 7 on either side of the wall. Mrs. Mizuno led him to the 3rd door on the left wall. On it was a little gold sign, "3".

"Enjoy your stay." She said, and with a firm nod, proceeded down the hallway, then the stairs.

Unpacking didn't take Mitsui very long. He had brought along only the bare necessities. However, his friend and teammate Miyagi, who occupied the room beside his, was still unpacking when Mitsui had finished.

"Did you bring your whole house along, Miyagi?" Mitsui asked sarcastically as he surveyed his friend's room. It contained no less than 10 framed photographs of Miyagi's love interest, Ayako, Shohoku's fierce but pretty manageress.

While Miyagi had brought with him too much, Sakuragi was worse. 

"The only clothes I brought with me besides my jerseys are these!" Sakuragi exclaimed proudly, pointing to his singlet and Bermudas. 

Mitsui pretended to be impressed.

"Wow, Sakuragi! So little!" Mitsui said.

Sakuragi beamed. "Yeah…"

Mitsui verified Sakuragi's statement by looking through his cupboard. Indeed, there hung only two sets of Shohoku jerseys. A little bottle of sleeping pills was the only thing else.

Mitsui frowned a little. "You didn't bring along underwear…?"

As this realization dawned upon Sakuragi, his hand flew to his mouth in horror. "Oh no!"

** **

In room 6, 3 doors down from Mitsui's room, Akira Sendoh was frantically turning over his stack of clothes, which he had piled neatly in a drawer. When it yielded nothing of what he was looking for, he turned to his bedside table, where bottles of hair gel and hair spray sat. Again, his search was futile. He sighed and threw up his hands, admitting 'defeat'.

Soon, the bell rang for dinner. The players filed down the stairs. On the way down, Sendoh confided in Uozumi and Fukuda about his loss. 

"No point whining, Sendoh. Just go to Mrs. Mizuno and ask for a new one." Uozumi said sensibly.

"She looks fierce, Sendoh. Good luck." Fukuda replied in his usual flat tone.

Sendoh sighed. "Okay." He said resignedly.

The players and Mrs. Mizuno all settled down at the table while Annie, the hostel cook, served dinner. Sendoh asked, rather nervously, to see Mrs. Mizuno after dinner. She agreed.

There was no lack of conversation over dinner. What were their chances of winning the inter-district tournament? Quite good, Maki fancied. Yes, of course, with the real super rookie in the team, Kiyota said. Sakuragi and Rukawa both disagreed; Sakuragi because "I am the real tensai, you're just a fake!", Rukawa because "do'ahou,". 

Halfway through the dinner, a middle-aged man with broad shoulders that looked every inch like a coach arrived at Quinn's hostel. Yes, he was their appointed coach, Sato Sensei. 

** **

"I think I've lost my key, Mrs. Mizuno. I'm terribly sorry – " 

Mrs. Mizuno held up her hand, indicating her lack of interest for explanations or apologies.

"You are Mr. Fukuda?" She asked.

"No, I'm Akira Sendoh." Sendoh corrected.

"Alas, the memory – it fails me."

Mrs. Mizuno retrieved a little notebook and thumbed through the pages.

"Akira Sendoh. You occupy Room 6, is that right?" She said, and pointed unerringly at his name on the notebook. There, written in Mrs. Mizuno's neat handwriting, was 'Akira Sendoh – 6'.

"Yes."

Mrs. Mizuno disappeared into her room and re-appeared with a key.

"This is the spare-key. You'll have to pay $10 for the loss."

Sendoh handed her the money readily enough, quite relieved at having been spared a lecture. He decided that Mrs. Mizuno was a down-to-earth, sensible and no-nonsense woman who didn't like to waste her time. 

He went back up to his room victoriously, key in hand.

That night, Sendoh tossed and turned in his bed, unable to sleep. There was no air-conditioner, only a fan, and the heat kept him awake. He decided he would ask for a change of room tomorrow. The rooms on the right had windows exposing the sea, and he very much needed the natural sea breeze to supplement the lack of coolness. According to his knowledge, Room 13 was unoccupied. 

Later in the night, he finally fell into a fitful sleep.

** **

Sendoh expressed to Mrs. Mizuno his desire to change rooms in the morning, and his apologies for being such a troublesome guest. Mrs. Mizuno promptly handed him the key to Room 13 in exchange for the key to Room 6.

After breakfast, the players had their first training session at a basketball court not far form the hostel, under the guidance of Sato Sensei. Nothing eventful happened, unless you count Sakuragi dunking the ball on Uozumi's head by mistake.

Training ended just in time for dinner. They returned to the hostel to find a young lady of about 26 joining them. She introduced herself as Akina Shidou, a fashion consultant.

Mitsui thought: "Now that's a pretty woman."

And it was true. Akina Shidou was extremely pretty, and moved about with all the easy grace of a mannequin, like, Mitsui thought, how all fashion consultants should. However, like a mannequin, she was _dead_. Not in the literal sense. There seemed to be neither life nor energy in her. She exuded a weary kind of charm.

"We're going upstairs to play cards. Wanna come?" Mitsui asked Akina.

She smiled, and like everything about her, her smile was a weary one. She acquiesced, her low, tired voice escaping her lips. He rather thought her to be the most tired person he had ever met.

Rukawa was browsing through the books at the bookcase table. Upon sensing their arrival, he scowled and went back to his room.

The few of them gathered around the bookcase table – Akina, Mitsui, Sakuragi, Kiyota, Sendoh and Uozumi. The rest of the players were downstairs watching TV.

They chatted a little over a game of Bridge.

"You look tired, Miss Shidou." Sendoh noted.

"Oh, I'm all right." She replied in her usual faraway voice.

"Speaking of tired – " Uozumi yawned. "I haven't been sleeping well these few days. Only managed to fall asleep at 4 in the morning last night!"

"If you can't take it, old monkey, go to bed!" Kiyota snickered. Uozumi flushed.

"I just need some coffee, that's all. Sendoh, go get some coffee."

"I want a cup too!" Sakuragi said quickly. It wasn't everyday you got to be served by Akira Sendoh.

Not to be outdone, Kiyota exclaimed at once, "Me too!"

Mitsui said that yes, he would like a cup too. Akina went with the flow. 

Sendoh re-appeared with a tray of coffee cups, and distributed them. As he did so, something struck Mitsui as odd, but what exactly he didn't know.

"OI!! NBA HIGHLIGHTS!!" Miyagi called from downstairs.

Mitsui sprang up at once. "I hope the Lakers lost!" He exclaimed, and rushed down the stairs in anticipation. 

"What Lakers?" Sakuragi wondered aloud, bewildered. But not wanting to look stupid, he hurried down together with the rest. Unfortunately for him, Kiyota overheard his little question to himself.

"You don't know the Lakers? You're so stupid!" Kiyota exclaimed.

Only Akina remained behind. She stood up and walked over to the window, looking pensive and detached (and tired, of course).

Kaede Rukawa seized this opportunity where the little corner was nearly vacant and came out of his room. The sudden shuffling of feet in the hallway startled Akina a little.

"Aren't you going down to join the rest?" She asked with a faint smile.

Rukawa's icy eyes considered her for a few moments. He then looked away without so much of a reply.

Akina thought: "He's batty, this one."

** **

Breakfast was, as a rule, served at 9am every morning. All the inhabitants had already gathered for the first meal of the day, except Uozumi and Akina. Akina had journeyed to town first thing in the morning.

"Ought we to wake Uozumi up?" Fukuda suggested.

Sensei Sato nodded gravely. "I place the utmost importance on punctuality."

As Uozumi's teammates, Fukuda and Sendoh took this duty upon their selves. As they proceeded up the stairs, Mitsui remarked, "Didn't he say he was having difficulty sleeping? More like he has difficulty waking up!" 

But Uozumi would never wake up. _He was dead._

Sakuragi, with a little smirk on his face, was about to open his mouth to say something when they all heard Sendoh and Fukuda starting to pound on Uozumi's door.

Mrs. Mizuno came shuffling out of the kitchen with an annoyed look on her face.

"Are they planning to break down my door?" She said irritably. "What room is that?" She asked those seated at the table.

They reflected.

"Room 4." Sakuragi replied suddenly. 

Mrs. Mizuno got the spare key for Room 4 and marched up the stairs like a commander, with the curious people following her like her troops. Sometimes, Mitsui felt that the strength of Mrs. Mizuno's character dominated them all.

"Stop it, you'll ruin my door!" She shoved Sendoh and Fukuda aside rather unceremoniously, and, with a turn of the key, opened the stubborn door.

It was not a pretty sight that greeted them. Uozumi, his face twisted in a contortion of agony and pain, lay lifeless on the bed in an odd sort of position with his eyes wide-open, eyes that conveyed a kind of severe shock.

Jin dashed out immediately. Sendoh crumpled down to the ground, ashen-faced. He then buried his head in his hands and started bawling. Fukuda, though a little stunned himself, tried to console Sendoh. There was something a little funny about this that made Mitsui want to laugh despite the tragedy. He really couldn't imagine Fukuda consoling anybody.

"Someone… Someone call the cops!" Maki's voice rang out with authority. Mrs. Mizuno volunteered and swept out of the room.

"Why the cops? You don't think – " Sakuragi's voice trailed off.

"Someone did him in," Kiyota said suddenly, like there was something stuck in his throat. "Someone did him in! People don't die like – like _that!_"

"It may've been a fit." Rukawa pointed out calmly with indifference.

Kiyota turned to Rukawa and narrowed his eyes.

"So you think it's a fit, do you?" Kiyota said, his voice dripping with malice. "You mark my words, Rukawa! He was murdered!"

"No." Said Sakuragi rather abruptly. "No!"

"All of you, out of this room! The police will need the room in its original state. Out!" The coach barked. The players complied.

Mitsui and Miyagi, however, felt rather disappointed.

"Damn, I thought we could perhaps snoop around and find some clues." Miyagi shook his head regretfully. "It's like in those detective stories, ain't it, Mitsui?"

"Yeah." Mitsui replied, and took one last, lingering look at the 'scene of crime'. To his surprise, Sakuragi came trotting out of the toilet of Uozumi's room. He had thought himself to be the last person to leave.

"Well, hurry up, Sakuragi!" The coach ushered them both out of the room, and locked it.

"What were you doing in there, Sakuragi?" Mitsui asked suspiciously.

"I was – I was combing my hair." Sakuragi replied quickly.

** **

"I would put the time of death at around 4 to 4.30am, no earlier than that. All the symptoms point to strychnine poisoning. A post-mortem will have to be carried out to find out how much of the drug had been consumed."

Inspector Rei Takeshi nodded slowly, digesting the bare facts of the case.

"What about the time of consumption?" She asked moments later.

"I should say about 2 to 3am." Doctor Ikari replied.

Rei nodded again.

"Any evidence as to how the strychnine could've been administered?" 

Doctor Ikari shook his head. "I'm afraid not."

Again, Rei nodded, this time a nod of dismissal. "Thank you, Doctor."

Doctor Ikari bowed and took his leave. On his way down, he bumped into a rather curious stranger with red hair.

"Tell me, Doctor," the stranger said, "is it true what they're saying? That Uozumi was poisoned?"

Doctor Ikari frowned. Was this person a reporter, waiting to pounce on this case? Perhaps twist this straightforward case into a sensational murder to be read by all of Japan? If so, the facts of the case certainly must not fall into his hands. "The reporters nowadays!" Doctor Ikari thought to himself.

He gave an answer of non-committal nature and continued his journey down the stairs.

** **

Inspector Takeshi observed the little corner where the bookcase table stood. "Magazines on this side" – she swung the bookcase around – "and Shakespeare on this side." She muttered to herself, making a mental note. 

She lingered for a few more minutes before making her way to the deceased's room.

There, she found her superior crouched on all fours, his head buried under the bed. She cleared her throat, and her superior stood up.

"Found anything?" She asked, a hint of mockery in her tone.

"No – not _yet_." Her superior (Inspector Tatsuya) replied.

"Well, you can go back to sniffing around like a foxhound. I'll just question the people here." 

"I don't like how you phrase things, Takeshi." 

Rei shrugged. "So will you continue your investigations, or will you come with me?"

Inspector Tatsuya shook his head. "_You_ will come with _me._" He said.

Rei rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

** **

"Really?" Akina said.

Mitsui and Miyagi had explained to her the reason why cops were swarming around the hostel.

"But how dreadful." She continued listlessly, her tone not corresponding with her words.

The two boys exchanged glances. "This is impossible, she isn't even the least bit excited!" Miyagi's eyes had said.

But Mitsui's eyes had said, "Look at her eyes, Miyagi. They're troubled."

** **

**Author's note:**

I re-wrote this first chapter. It's longer and in much clearer detail. I absolutely despised the older first chapter, because I thought it was horribly written. I'm quite pleased at how this re-write turned out; I hope you all didn't find it boring.

Please include your guesses in your reviews! I'd love to see everyone drawing their own conclusions. Who is the murderer? Who will be the next to die?

The next chapter will see the police questioning the whole hostel. Bits of information will be revealed. Stay tuned!

Until then, please R&R :)

xoxo,   
qianhui 

PS: Much thanks to sLL, ayu, unchained, Silhouette Panther and lambie for reviewing the previous first chapter!


	2. A Little Bottle

**Summer Shade**   
Chapter Two: A Little Bottle 

"Drink up, boy." Sato Sensei handed Sendoh a glass of brandy.

Sendoh obeyed, feeling much better at once when the brandy touched his lips. Sato Sensei gave him an assuring pat on the shoulder, and left the room.

A thousand wild thoughts had been running through Sendoh's mind, almost driving him mad. The thought of Uozumi being poisoned… being _murdered_…

He shook his head furiously. They must have made a mistake, them goddamn police! 

_It just can't be…_

A sudden shiver ran down his spine, and he hurriedly took another sip of brandy to steady his nerves.

It was horrible.

_Uozumi, poor Uozumi…_

He downed the whole glass of brandy.

** **

"Out of bounds, boy! Out of bounds!" A police officer shooed Mitsui and Miyagi away from Uozumi's room.

"Drats!" Mitsui cursed. Miyagi muttered something of the like. The duo left the area resignedly.

"Who d'you think did him in, Mitsui?" Miyagi asked.

"I don't know, Miyagi. It seems like an inside job…" Mitsui's voice trailed off. 

"I can't believe it! One of us here! A murderer!" Miyagi's voice trembled with a sort of ghoulish excitement.

"But there it is," Mitsui said, his voice hard. "A murderer is among our midst."

"Do'ahou." That cold, familiar voice floated to them. They turned around.

"Why, Rukawa? Have a theory of your own?" Mitsui sneered.

"It may've been suicide or a fit," Rukawa said coolly.

"Nonsense." Mitsui retorted, and left with Miyagi.

** **

"Inspector," Sato Sensei began. "Will a post-mortem be necessary?"

Inspector Tatsuya nodded gravely in response.

Sato shook his head and sighed a little.

"A bad business, this is," he said.

"Since you're here, Mr. Sato, could we start with you? The questioning, I mean."

"Yes, yes of course."

The two men settled down in one of the vacant rooms, and were shortly joined by Inspector Takeshi. 

"I suppose it's the routine stuff, eh? Well, my name is Kenji Sato, 43 this year, a basketball coach by profession. I live in Kanagawa."

"You arrived here – when?"

"Two days ago, Sir," Sato replied. "I should say a little over 6pm. They were having dinner when I arrived."

"I understand there was a chartered bus that ferried everyone here." 

"Yes, there was."

The ensuing pause made Sato feel rather uncomfortable. Inspector Tatsuya looked at him, clearly expectant of an explanation of sorts.

"I – I have a car, Sir."

"Where were you before you came here?"

Sato replied that he had been in his home at Kanagawa. Nothing else of use was elicited from him. He was dismissed.

The inspectors' next interview was with Miyagi.

"How well did you know Jun Uozumi?"

"Not very well. I knew him by sight, of course, and that he held the position of captain in Ryonan. We've met on court twice. Other than that, this camp is the first time I've encountered him."

"When was the last time you saw him?"

Miyagi reflected.

"Last night, I believe."

"What time?"

"I really can't say I noticed – oh! 10pm. No, 10.30pm. I just remembered. _NBA Inside Stuff_ was showing on TV then, and I hollered from downstairs for all of them to come down. That was 10pm. The show ended at 10.30pm and all of them went back up to resume their game of cards, or whatever. So 10.30pm would be the last time I saw the poor guy."

Inspector Tatsuya nodded. Beside him, Inspector Rei Takeshi was furiously scribbling away in her notebook. 

"Who was watching television with you? Or rather, who had been playing cards upstairs?"

"Let me see now," Miyagi paused, reflecting. "Maki and Jin and Fukuda – they were watching TV with me. I'm pretty sure the rest of them were upstairs – playing cards or not I don't know. They may've been in their rooms. You'll have to check with the others on that point."

"We will. Well, where were you between 2-3am?"

"I was watching TV with Sendoh, the cook – Annie, was it? – and the cleaner, Rika. Late night horror movie."

After a few more questions, Miyagi was dismissed.  Next was Mitsui. The earlier part of his evidence was basically a repetition of Miyagi's. 

"I heard you were playing cards last night."

"Yes, we were playing Bridge."

"Who?"

"Sakuragi, Uozumi, Sendoh, Kiyota, Akina and I."

Inspector Tatsuya was just about to open his mouth when Rei interpolated.

"Where was Rukawa?" She asked.

"He was… I don't know, Inspector. He wasn't with us. I think he was back in his room. He'd been browsing through the books in the bookcase, and when we came he just left rather sulkily."

Suddenly, a thought struck Mitsui. His face became alighted with excitement.

"Inspector, we had coffee last night. The coffee was left unattended for half an hour at least when we went down for TV."

"Coffee!" Rei cried eagerly. "Why didn't anybody tell us? Who brought the coffee up?"

"Sendoh did." Mitsui replied.

"What time was that?"

"Just before we went down for TV."

"You were watching an NBA show?"

Mitsui nodded.

"What about this… Akina? Did she go down with you all?"

"No, I rather think she stayed behind. Oh, inspector! You don't think…!"

So! In the space of half an hour, both Akina and Rukawa could've administered the strychnine. Why hadn't he thought of it before?

"I think nothing." Rei replied, a little smile playing on her lips.

"Am I allowed to resume my questioning, Inspector Takeshi?" Inspector Tatsuya said, a faint annoyance in his voice.

"Of course, of course."

Mitsui had no alibi. He had been up sleeping in his room between 2-3am. Nobody could verify that.

"Inspector, could I say something?" Mitsui asked before he was dismissed. "Something struck me was very odd, Inspector. Rukawa is a very quiet and indifferent person, you see. And yet today he spontaneously put forward his own theory as to the tragedy."

"And what was his theory?"

"That Uozumi committed suicide, or died from natural causes."

"Ah, that is very suggestive. We are much obliged to you."

Mitsui left the room, and Sakuragi entered.

"I didn't do it, I tell you!" He exclaimed, before any question had been asked.

Inspector Tatsuya sighed. He had come across many Sakuragis before. No new facts were elicited from him. He had no alibi.

Inspector Tatsuya thought: "He is very vehement, this one. I wonder why…?"

Jin was next. His evidence was a repetition of everyone's. It was a horrible thing to happen. Why should anyone want Uozumi dead? He didn't understand. No, he didn't know Uozumi well at all. When was the last time he had seen Uozumi alive? About 1am.

"1am, you say?" Inspector Tatsuya leaned forward, interested.

"Y-Yes. He was talking to Sakuragi outside his room."

"Aha!"

Jin was dismissed, and Sakuragi was called in again. What had they been talking about? Basketball tactics.

Inspector Tatsuya thought: "A likely story!"

After Sakuragi had been dismissed again, an excited police officer came rushing into the room.

"Ma'am! We searched the area like you told us to" – Inspector Tatsuya frowned at Rei, obviously unhappy about not being informed about this action – "and we found it!"

"Fantastic!" Rei said happily. The police officer handed her a little bottle sealed in transparent plastic.

"Outside which room window was it found?" Rei asked.

"Room 6, Ma'am. Akina Shidou's room."

** **

Akina Shidou was cool and wary.

"Akina Shidou, 26. I'm a fashion consultant." 

Inspector Tatsuya observed her. She seemed vaguely familiar to him…

He was sure he'd seen her before. No, not on the job. Just somewhere…

He couldn't remember.

"Did you know Jun Uozumi well?"

"No, not at all. I only arrived yesterday."

"When did you last see him?"

"About 12am, I suppose. I really cannot be sure."

"I heard you stayed behind instead of going down with the boys to watch TV."

Akina shrugged her elegant shoulders.

"Is that important?" She asked.

"You had half an hour to yourself. You could easily have administered the strychnine, Miss Shidou."

Again she shrugged.

"So the stuff really was in the coffee, then?"

"You should know best, Miss Shidou." Inspector Tatsuya looked her in the eye.

She returned his gaze steadily.

"That was a horribly suggestive thing to say," Akina said finally. "And anyway, you've got it wrong. I didn't have half an hour to myself."

"What's that?"

"The boy – Lukawa, was it? He was browsing through the books for half an hour."

"And what about yourself? What did you do?"

"I?" She said, a faint insolence in her voice. "I minded my own business, Inspector."

"So if Rukawa had introduced the strychnine, you would've seen?

"I had my back turned."

"Did Jun Uozumi disapprove of you in any way? Or vice versa?"

She smiled a weary smile.

"Why hardly, my dear man. We'd exchanged less than 20 sentences."

After a few more questions, she got up and left.

"She is very beautiful," Inspector Tatsuya pointed out suddenly.

"And very tired." Rei said flatly.

Surely a woman as beautiful as Akina Shidou could be no murderess! But yet the most beautiful women had been known to poison…

** **

The next person they interviewed was Kaede Rukawa. He showed no signs of anxiety, distress, or nervousness. Most unusual, perhaps, too unusual…

"Where were you between 2-3am?"

"Sleeping in my room."

"Have you any information you think might be relevant?"

"No."

"Were you drinking coffee and playing cards with the rest?"

"No."

"I heard the coffee was left untouched on the bookcase table for about half an hour."

"I'm not sure."

"Could you have – "

"I didn't, whatever you say."

"Now, come on. Let's just say nobody was around. It'd be easy, wouldn't it? To just go to the area and introduce the strychnine?"

"I didn't go near the area." He said firmly.

"Funny. Miss Shidou said she saw you. I suppose she was hallucinating?"

There was a slight pause before Rukawa finally spoke.

"Perhaps."

"I heard you had a very interesting theory as to how Uozumi died."

"No comments."

Nothing more could be drawn out of him. 

** **

Next, the inspectors interviewed Annie the cook and Rika the cleaner, a pretty young girl with a gipsy-type face, Fukuda, Sendoh and Maki. They could tell little. Mrs. Mizuno, however, had something to say.

"Is it true that it was strychnine?" She asked.

Inspector Takeshi nodded.

"So it is true…" She paused. "Look, Inspector, I'm not sure if this is of use, but a bottle of strychnine is missing from the kitchen. I took it out yesterday to poison a dog – laid it on the table, I think, and then went off to do something else – and it's been missing ever since. Of course I could've misplaced it – " 

Inspector Takeshi held up the little bottle for Mrs. Mizuno to see.

"Is this the missing bottle, Mrs. Mizuno?"

Mrs. Mizuno drew in a sharp breath.

"My lord, it is!"

** **

After the questioning was over, the two Inspectors discussed.

"By the way, Takeshi, where was the bottle found?"

"Below Shidou's room – it was in the bushes. It was thrown out of the window, I think. It may've been planted there, of course."

Inspector Tatsuya shook his head.

"You think too complicated, Takeshi. My bet's on Shidou. She poisoned the boy, and then threw the bottle out of the window. Thought that that was that, but of course we found it."

"Akina Shidou is intelligent. Don't ask me to believe that she would just chuck the bottle out of the window like that!" Rei retorted.

"Well," Inspector Tatsuya shrugged. "What do you think, then?"

Rei scribbled on her notebook for about 10 minutes, then showed it to Inspector Tatsuya.

_Strychnine bottle found outside Room 6 – why?_

_Explanation 1: Akina Shidou had it in her possession, and disposed of it by throwing it out of her window._

_For: Lack of time for proper disposal._

_Against: She had been to town in the morning. What could be easier than to bring the bottle with her and dispose of it somewhere far away from Quinn's hostel?_

_-_

_Explanation 2: Somebody else (X, for example) had it in their possession, and threw it out of their window, as far away as possible. Without deliberate purpose, it had landed below the window of Room 6._

_For: This theory is perfectly plausible._

_Conclusion: X is someone whose room is on the same side as Akina's (i.e. Room 1 to 7)_

_-_

_Explanation 3: X had it in his/her possession and manually placed the bottle in the bushes outside the hostel. Intention not known._

_For: Plausible._

_Conclusion: X is probably someone whose room is NOT on the same side as Akina's (i.e. Room 8 to 14, Mrs. Mizuno's and the servants' rooms, and therefore had no means of making it land below the window of Room 6). _

_But WHY? If above conclusion is correct, that means X planted it below Room 6 with the deliberate intent of letting the police find it THERE._

_-_

Inspector Tatsuya re-read the page.

"You are quite right," he finally admitted. "Akina Shidou is not brainless."

** **

Mitsui recounted to Miyagi all that had passed in his interview with the inspectors with much excitement.

"Rukawa!" Miyagi exclaimed. "It's very suspicious, ain't it? The way he keeps stressing that Uozumi died of _natural causes,_" – Miyagi made a face – "Ridiculous theory, if you ask me."

"But the bottle was found outside Akina's room!" Mitsui said, vexed. "This is all so confusing."

Mitsui and Miyagi had been snooping around, and through a piece of sheer luck, managed to witness the police extracting a little bottle from the bushes. After some investigation, they found that it was below Akina's window. The fact that the bottle had contained strychnine was just pure guesswork on their part.

"Akina and Rukawa – our two greatest suspects. I can imagine Rukawa as a murderer, but Akina?" Miyagi wondered aloud.

"Looks can be deceiving," Mitsui warned. "And we mustn't forget Sendoh. He was the one who poured out the coffee, remember."

Miyagi waved away this suggestion airily.

"Nah, the stuff wasn't in the coffee. Uozumi took it at around 2-3am!"

"Oh yeah…"

Mitsui shook his head, frustrated.

"I don't understand, Miyagi. We could look all we want for clues and stuff, but always it's back to the same question. WHY on earth would anyone want Uozumi dead?"

Miyagi shrugged.

"For that we'll just have to snoop around some more, I guess."

**Author's note:**

Yay! Chapter 2 completed. Please R&R =D

To anyone that reads "The Detention Diaries" (my first fic that's still on-going. If you haven't read it, go! =P), I won't be updating for a while because I've run out of ideas. My brain's burned out! Hehe =X


	3. The Cleanergirl

**Summer Shade**  
Chapter Three: The cleaner-girl 

"So what do you make of it all? This murder business, I mean." She said cheerfully, tossing her head back a little.

Jin blinked.

"I think it's just _awful_," She continued, with more relish than anything else. "Don't you?"

For the sake of not appearing stupid, Jin muttered a rather inaudible something in reply, then walked off hurriedly down the cobble-stoned path, leaving the girl staring after him in bewilderment.

"What is the world coming to?" Jin said to himself, remembering the girl's cheerful manner in wake of the tragedy. "These girls! Embracing murder as some… some…" He faltered.

"Oh, hell!" 

This sudden exclamation made Jin spin round. It was the morbid girl with the cheerful manner. He frowned upon her in disapproval. Girls had no business saying things like 'hell'.

"Damn these things!" The girl continued, furiously brushing a few ants off her legs.

Again, Jin thought, girls weren't supposed to say things like 'damn'.

After the ants had gone, the girl looked up at him rather sheepishly.

"They really are a bother, these insects." She said light-heartedly.

Jin pursed his lips, making apparent his disapproval of girls with shrewish tongues as such.

As if sensing his mounting dislike for her, she tried to break the growing tension between them.

"I know what you're thinking," She said. "You're thinking that I'm an impertinent young lass, don't you?" 

Jin kept quiet.

"But really," she went on, her face stiffening and her voice lowering, "I'm actually a frightfully prim and proper girl!"

Jin stared, and after a few moments laughed in spite of himself. She, too, burst out laughing (Jin thought: What an uncultured laugh that is!).

"You _are_ funny," Jin admitted. It was only right to be friendly. He had been brought up to have proper manners and etiquette.

"Oh well, you'd better be on your way! The inspectors just sent for you."

Jin let out a little groan.

"I really do hate all these police and inspectors swarming about the place," he lamented. "It's just so – so uncomfortable."

"Do you, now? I think it's all rather exciting. But when the inspector has his shrewd, suspicious eye on you," – she shuddered a little – "you just feel quite horrid."

"There's something worse than that." Jin said suddenly. "Someone _here_ is a murderer. For all I know, you could be the murderer."

The cheeriness swept off her face almost immediately.

"For all I know, you could be, too." She said gravely.

Together, they set back up to Quinn's hostel.

** **

Inspector Tatsuya sighed. After a terribly insistent cleaner-girl ("Please, sir! This room hasn't been cleaned in hours. I promise not to hear anything I'm supposed to; I'll just go about doing my job. I solemnly swear!"), a muffin-head boy with no sense of direction at all ("I'm sorry, I must've walked into the wrong room. I'll just go out now, no harm done!"), and a cocky gangster that tried to eavesdrop ("Who said I was eavesdropping? Who wants to hear anything, anyway?!"), he finally had the room empty for the inquiry.

"Jin. Tell us, did you overhear anything that passed between Sakuragi and Uozumi that night?"

"I'm not in the habit of eavesdropping, sir." Jin replied rather stiffly.

"No, no, of course not." Inspector Tatsuya said hastily. "But perhaps you overheard something – some words, a sentence – without intending to, of course."

Jin considered.

"I think – I do think that I heard the word 'sleep'."

"Sleep?" Tatsuya frowned.

"Sleep…" Rei muttered.

** **

Rika the cleaner sighed heavily.

"It's no good, all our attempts to pry haven't worked. And if the police were to rat on Aunt Mizuno about this, I'm done for!"

Rika was the girl with the fresh, gipsy face. She wasn't blessed with the head-turning kind of beauty, but nevertheless her perpetual exuberance was quite attractive. If there were any one adjective to describe her, it would be _alive._ She was so alive, there's no other word for it. It was as though she possessed an immense zest for life and living like nobody else had. She loved life.

Being cooped up in a small hostel in the outskirts for the summer vacations didn't dampen her spirits one bit. She had come to be of service to her Aunt Mizuno, and had hoped to earn some extra pocket money for the upcoming school term. And now, what with all this exciting murder business going on, making this trip proved to be the best decision of her life so far. Oh, what thrill! Exactly like one read in those detective stories. Now if only she could solve it…

"Let's go through the facts we have so far." Mitsui suggested, and retrieved from his pocket a rather crumpled piece of paper.

_The Murder of Jun Uozumi_

_Near 10pm: Akira Sendoh brings up coffee._

_10pm: Everyone goes down to watch TV except Akina. Rukawa whereabouts unknown. Sato Sensei's whereabouts unknown. Coffee has not been drunk, and is left unattended._

_10.30pm: Everyone goes back up and resumes the game of Bridge. Everyone drinks coffee. Rukawa and Sato Sensei are not present._

_12pm: Everyone goes back to their rooms except Miyagi and Sendoh. Both stay up to watch television_

_1am: Uozumi last seen alive by Sakuragi. Jin witnesses._

_2-3am: The murderer (X) goes into Uozumi's room and gives him something to eat/drink._

_4-5am: Uozumi dies of strychnine poisoning._

_9.20am: Body found._

"Agree with the facts so far?" Mitsui asked.

His other two companions, Rika and Miyagi, murmured in assent.

"And now for our next step."

"Next step?"

"Yes," Mitsui said with a little nod. "Listen."

** **

"Thank you very much, Mrs. Mizuno. We've got pretty much all we want from here."

The competent Mrs. Mizuno nodded briskly.

"There will be an inquest three days from now. You will be required to give evidence."

"I understand."

"Well then, we're off. Mrs. Mizuno?"

"Inspector Tatsuya." Mrs. Mizuno bowed.

And finally, away went the police from the cursed hostel.

** **

The next morning, everyone roused at 9am as usual, and went down for breakfast. There was an air of false cheer at the table.

Akina was off to town, as usual. Sato Sensei was missing, too. So, when you put 9 young men together, what do you think will be their object of discussion?

"Yes, I think the female inspector's rather good-looking."

"Oh my god! No! She looks like a bullfrog; her eyes look like they're going to devour you."

"But Miss Shidou is very attractive – you agree?"

"Very!" Rika interjected, sounding very envious. "I think she's the loveliest, most elegant woman I've ever met."

A few of the boys at the table thought of Angelina Jolie, and disagreed with Rika's statement inwardly. 

"Oh, that – of course. Too bad she's ancient!"

"26 is ancient?"

"Well, sort of, if you consider the fact that we're only 18! Except for Maki, of course."

Maki gave a sort of dry cough, clearly annoyed.

"Joking, joking."

This false cheer soon died away, almost inevitably, into a deafening silence. The air of death and gloom had re-established itself at the hostel.

** **

"What the devil are you doing here?" A man's voice floated to Jin, putting him in a very awkward position indeed. Eavesdropping wasn't exactly his favourite hobby. 

Jin thought irritably: "Even while taking an innocent walk in the woods, I can be so unfortunate as to stumble upon a private conversation!"

Someone – a female voice – uttered a reply, which he couldn't hear.

"You'd better get out of here fast, I tell you! Before they get you!" The man's booming voice came again.

Jin twitched uncomfortably.

Again, that female's reply he couldn't hear.

"Now, now," the man's tone had changed into a soothing one now. "What good will it do, my girl? If you go to the police, we'll both get hauled in for it. So don't you do anything silly."

What she replied he could not hear.

"To hell with you!" The man cursed.

Footsteps told Jin that one of the persons – probably the man – was setting back up the cobble-stoned path. Not wanting to be seen, Jin hid behind a tree, and held his breath as the person swept past him.

When he was quite sure the person had passed, he looked to see who had been the man involved.

Sato Sensei.

"It's – it's you!" A girl exclaimed behind him. Jin whirled around. It was Rika, his morbid girl with the cheerful manner. Rika the cleaner-girl.

What had she and Sato Sensei been talking about? He then remembered Sato Sensei's words, _if you go to the police, we'll both get hauled in for it…_

Could it be that…?

"I – I…" He stammered.

"You!" She cried in disbelief, then tore wildly up the path, leaving him as though he had been turned to stone.

** **

**Author's note:**

Yeah, there'll be a Jin x OC thing. But it'll only be very, very slight romance. Too much of it gives me goosebumps =P

An outline of the inquest will be in the next chapter.

Please R&R!

xoxo,  
qianhui

PS: thanks white meteor, eliar and Dinette for reviewing =D

Eliar – yes! I'd like to read your fic :)


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